The theme for Earth Day 2024 focuses on a 60% plastic reduction by 2040.
… Which got us thinking. It’s a good idea to see how much plastic we’ve eliminated from our packaging since 2019.
Back then, we’d already began to lean into the ‘eco’ part of our name. We’d cut our product lineup to focus 100% on sustainably sourced kiln-dried logs, and on the new generation of briquettes, made entirely from recovered bypass from wood processors.
But it was in 2019 that we took the decision to eliminate plastic packaging.
For Double Deck® and Single Deck® pallets of kiln-dried logs, we designed a cardboard lid to replace the plastic wrap we’d been using.
For EcoBriquettes we replaced shrink-wrap plastic with beautifully designed cardboard boxes that can be reused by consumers or recycled.
When we introduced Pinikay logs, we used a simple recyclable strap instead of that plastic shrink wrap the rest of the industry uses.
And when we created new products like organic lumpwood and Forno1889® pizza logs, we opted for paper bags and cardboard boxes.
So we did some calculations to estimate how much plastic we’ve eliminated.
Turns out we've removed 100,000m2 of single use plastic.
It's hard to imagine such a number, but it's enough to cover the pitch at Croke Park more than 6 times.
Image adapted from Google Earth
The beauty of a cardboard box is that it already contains recycled material. Besides, it’s easy to give it a second life to store stuff at home and recycle it when it’s no longer needed. The worst case for cardboard is that it isn’t recycled, in which case, it decomposes naturally with a lower impact on the environment. You can even add cardboard to a compost heap where it provides carbon to balance nitrogen.
Even though Ireland introduced recycling for soft plastics in 2021, recycling rates are still too low and the growth in plastic waste is outpacing recycling. So although it’s a good idea, we’re still producing more and more plastic.
Screenshot from EU
If we continue on this path, we’ll continue to contaminate our little planet and our oceans with plastics. It’s already a disaster.
